She ran like the fire itself.
I could see her—across the roofs—darting from shadow to shadow, her hands glowing molten red, flames licking the air in jagged bursts. The creature chasing her was faster than the last one I'd fought—sleeker, angrier. Its wings cut through the storm like blades.
I didn't think. I launched.
The wind caught me, lifted me farther than physics should've allowed. I landed hard on the next roof, knees bending just in time. My palms sparked as I sprinted, the storm answering every footstep.
The girl looked back once—just once—and I caught her eyes.
Fury.
Fear.
Power.
She leapt off the next building, barely catching the fire escape. The creature dove. I raised my arm, instinct pulsing through me, and snapped my fingers.
A bolt of lightning tore through the sky like a whip.
It hit the creature mid-air.
Slammed it against the rooftop in a flash of sparks.
It shrieked—ugly, metallic—and crumpled into nothing.
The fire girl landed hard on her knees, panting, flames fading from her hands as she stared at the empty space where her attacker had been.
I dropped down next to her.
"You good?" I asked, breathless.
She looked at me like I was another enemy. "Who the hell are you?"
"Someone who hates those things as much as you do."
"Right," she muttered. "Because lightning guys fall out of the sky every day."
"You're one to talk, Firehands."
She almost smirked at that—but it faded fast.
"I didn't ask for this," she said, getting to her feet. "Any of it."
"Neither did I," I said quietly. "But we have it now."
She looked away. "Yeah. And the people I love are paying for it."
I felt something twist in my chest.
I knew that feeling.
Before I could ask her anything else, her eyes widened. "We have to move. More will come."
"How do you know?"
"Because they always do."
She bolted into the shadows, disappearing into the night.
I didn't follow.
Not yet.
But I knew I'd see her again.
Back on my rooftop, I couldn't sit still. Everything in me felt like it was building toward something—some collision, some revelation.
I wasn't alone.
There were others.
Chosen, like me. Marked by the sky—or maybe something deeper.
The girl, whoever she was, burned like a star. She had answers.
And I was going to find her.
But before I could, I had a visitor.
Same silver-haired man from before.
Only this time, he wasn't smiling.
"You're accelerating too fast," he said.
"No one told me there were rules."
"There are always rules. And when you break them—others bleed."
He tossed something to me.
A photograph.
Blurry, but clear enough.
The fire girl. Surrounded. Hands bound. Eyes defiant.
"They took her."
I looked up.
"Where?"
He stepped back, and lightning cracked the sky.
"Where the storm ends," he said. "And everything else begins."